GIBEON,
WEST BANK/ISRAEL

Photo of Gibeon (El Jib) 1931, The ancient city was on the upper
hill to the right of the buildings, Library of Congress Collection.

Gibeon was located next to El Jib about eight
miles north of Jerusalem by James B. Pritchard.

The word "Gibeon" appears 41 times
in the Bible (ASV).

Gibeon was excavated by James B. Pritchard of
the University of Pennsylvania 1956-1960, and 1962. The ancient city
during Iron Age I-II was about 16 acres. The sixteen acres at the top of
the hill yielded EB, MB, Iron Age, Greek and Byzantine remains. No LBA
houses were found. On the sides of the hill there were tombs there was one
LBA tomb found to contain two burial chambers joined by a hole in the
wall. The tombs were labeled tomb 10A and 10B. There were problems
in the Book of Joshua after British excavations at Jericho could not verify the
account in the Bible. The finding of 24 wine jar handles deeply inscribed
'Gibeon,' and other jar handles lightly inscribed 'Gibeon' at
the site was evidence the location of Gibeon was at El Jib. There was no
evidence of the Late Bronze Age royal city as described in the Book of Joshua
existed at Gibeon. A pool as described in 2 Samuel during the time of
David was found at Gibeon. Pritchard estimated the pool was dug at the
beginning of Iron Age I.

Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery imports ceased
about 1200 BC during the end of the Bronze Age the beginning of the Iron
Age. Widespread warfare disrupted cities and trade in the Eastern
Mediterranean Region. Some historians speculated earthquakes and drought
may have caused some of the damage. The presence of these imports and
locally made imitations of the imports is used as a marker for the Late Bronze
Age strata found at an archaeological dig.

Long collar rim storage jars were used in the
12th century BC along with short collar rim storage jars. After the 12th
century BC there were short collar rim storage jars and not long collar rim
storage jars in the Central Hill Country (N. Lapp 1981). Variations in the
shape of bowl sides and the rims of the bowls have also been used to note
transitions through this interval.

The town on the small hill to the left of the
large hill (see photo above) is El Jib. When Pritchard arrived in the late 1950's this town
was four acres in size. During the search for tombs the entire area was
surveyed. There was no late LBA- pottery found except in the LBA tombs.
Evidence suggests there may have been a small Egyptian controlled manor or
garrison in the area as scarabs of Egyptian pharaohs were found in the two tombs. Just
as it was in Pritchard's day, there are problems trying to match the
archaeological record to the Book of Joshua in the Bible.

They found pottery on the surface of the hill,
and in the diggings. No large scale late LBA walled city was located on the 16 acre
hill. The finding of two joined LBA tombs allowed Pritchard to declare he
had found evidence for a Late Bronze Age occupation. In later writings he
described the stories in the Bible about Gibeon as folk tales. W.F. Albright had stated the conquest of the
Biblical Joshua occurred close to the end of the Late
Bronze Age. Pritchard did not find as much as a Late Bronze Age house,
much less a walled city from the late LBA period. Only a small
fraction of the hill was excavated. There were various trenches to
discover the extent of the city walls around the perimeter and excavations near
the water tunnel and spring. This area near the sprong would have been
prime real estate as it was more convenient to fetch water close by than from a
distance.